How will the Chicago Bears conduct their searches for a new GM and coach? And what do we know about the search committee? 5 questions — and answers — about the days ahead.

2 years ago 416

Hours aft informing Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy they had been fired, Chicago Bears Chairman George McCaskey promised the hunt to regenerate them “will effect successful the champion imaginable selections to pb the Bears to success.”

McCaskey and President and CEO Ted Phillips spoke with the media for an hr Monday day detailing however they would find the adjacent Bears adjacent wide manager and coach.

Here are 5 questions they answered during that session.

1. Who volition beryllium progressive successful the Bears search?

While McCaskey said helium yet volition marque the determination connected the adjacent GM and coach, the Bears assembled a five-person hunt committee — McCaskey, Hall of Fame enforcement Bill Polian, Phillips, vice president of subordinate engagement LaMar “Soup” Campbell and elder vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion Tanesha Wade.

  • Polian, 79, spent 32 years successful the NFL and was an enforcement with the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts. His teams made the Super Bowl 5 times, with 1 triumph with the Colts against the Bears successful the 2006 season. Among his coaching hires were Hall of Famers Tony Dungy and Marv Levy and besides Dom Capers and Jim Caldwell.

McCaskey began consulting with Polian during the play arsenic helium tried to find the fates of Pace and Nagy

“I was struck successful our earliest conversations with Bill however precise overmuch connected apical of the crippled helium is and adjacent connected our situation,” McCaskey said. “When we called him retired of the blue, helium was asking america elaborate questions astir our roster, astir our wounded concern with peculiar players. He was precise overmuch up connected the crippled successful wide and the Bears’ concern successful particular. So I deliberation we’ll beryllium successful bully hands leaning connected Bill to assistance america marque this decision.”

  • Phillips has been the Bears President and CEO since 1999 and has seen the squad prosecute 3 wide managers and 5 caput coaches. During his tenure, the Bears person made the playoffs six times and mislaid 10 oregon much games 9 times.

“I spot Ted implicitly,” McCaskey said. “Because I person large respect for his judgement, his analytical skills, his instincts erstwhile it comes to the radical that we’re interviewing, and successful the extremity he’ll beryllium negotiating the declaration of the wide manager and the caput coach.”

  • Campbell is simply a erstwhile NFL antiaircraft backmost with the Detroit Lions. The Bears hired him successful 2017 to enactment with players, and is connected committee to assistance the Bears find however candidates volition pb players.

“He connected a regular ground is successful the locker country talking to the players, what’s important, what’s connected their minds, what’s bothering them, what are they blessed about,” Phillips said. “He volition adhd large penetration into however the locker country mightiness respond to antithetic styles of coaching, antithetic styles of leadership.”

  • Wade started her vocation with the Bears arsenic manager of events and amusement and was promoted to her caller presumption successful the fall. Her information is inherent to the Bears’ efforts to see a divers campaigner pool.

“Tanesha, she’s precise agleam and she volition assistance america see diverseness of thought and the implicit bias that a batch of radical person erstwhile they spell done trying to prosecute leadership, whether it’s a manager oregon a wide manager,” Phillips said.

2. How volition the hunt proceed?

McCaskey said the Bears volition person “lengthy lists” of candidates for some positions.

The Bears already began mounting up interviews Monday. According to aggregate reports, they enactment successful requests with Colts manager of assemblage scouting Morocco Brown, Cleveland Browns VP of shot operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Browns VP of subordinate unit Glenn Cook for GM interviews and erstwhile Philadelphia Eagles manager Doug Pederson, Buffalo Bills antiaircraft coordinator Leslie Frazier and Bills violative coordinator Brian Daboll for manager interviews.

Pederson, Frazier and Daboll are notable due to the fact that it shows the Bears are conducting coaching interviews earlier they determine connected a GM. McCaskey said the Bears would similar to prosecute a GM first.

“But if we spot a head-coach campaigner we deliberation is the close one, we’re going to bash what it takes to get him successful house,” McCaskey said.

McCaskey hopes the diverseness of acquisition wrong the interrogation country volition pb to the productive conversations needed to prime the close people.

“We expect a candid and free-flowing conversation,” McCaskey said. “Bill said that erstwhile helium interviewed Tony Dungy, helium knew successful the archetypal 12 minutes that Tony was his feline and they proceeded to speech shot for different 8 hours. So we’re looking guardant to in-depth conversations similar that.”

3. What qualities are they looking for successful a GM and coach?

McCaskey stressed aggregate times that the Bears are staying open-minded astir what they privation successful a GM and coach.

He said manager interviews volition “not beryllium constricted by philosophy, scheme, whether a candidate’s inheritance is connected the violative broadside of the ball, antiaircraft oregon peculiar teams, whether a campaigner has erstwhile head-coaching experience, whether a candidate’s inheritance is successful the assemblage crippled oregon the pro game, oregon fiscal considerations.”

When asked if idiosyncratic with a Bears transportation would marque him much comfortable, helium said it would beryllium “on who that idiosyncratic was and what their imaginativeness was for the Bears.” And helium besides said the Bears are unfastened to antithetic philosophies connected however to get occurrence connected the field, whether it beryllium via a rebuild oregon with overmuch of their existent group.

McCaskey mentioned Polian’s book, “Super Bowl Blueprints,” a mates of times successful his answers astir the search, including erstwhile saying the Bears were seeking leaders astatine the GM and manager positions.

“(Polian) said helium was struck by (how) large teams person coaches that the players respect,” McCaskey said of the book. “They don’t person to similar him, they don’t person to emotion him, but they respect him. So the superior prime we’ll beryllium looking for successful some the wide manager and the caput manager is leadership.”

He said the Bears are committed to “fairness successful the process” arsenic they see diverseness successful their hiring.

“What I support proceeding arsenic a subordinate of the (NFL) diverseness committee is that radical conscionable privation a just process,” McCaskey said. “It’s not a peculiar result, arsenic agelong arsenic radical get a just shake. The aforesaid prime interrogation that different campaigner whitethorn person gotten, the aforesaid accidental to beryllium heard that each different campaigner gets. That’s the important portion of the process. We don’t cognize what the effect is going to be.”

4. How is this hunt antithetic from the Bears’ past GM search?

After the 2014 season, the Bears hired erstwhile NFL GM Ernie Accorsi to assistance them successful the hunt that yet led to the hiring of Pace and manager John Fox.

The inclusion of Polian, then, feels familiar.

“The alteration successful the interrogation country is that we’ve got 3 caller radical successful the room, truthful we’ve got the payment of their perspective,” McCaskey said.

The bigger announced alteration is that the caller GM volition study to McCaskey and not Phillips, who is focusing his attraction connected the Bears’ imaginable acquisition of the erstwhile Arlington International Racecourse spot arsenic a imaginable tract for a caller stadium.

However, Phillips inactive volition beryllium progressive successful the search. He said helium thinks helium has learned a batch done his engagement with different searches.

“The hiring of Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy, I don’t regret that,” Phillips said. “They some brought a batch to the Bears. Ultimately connected the tract the results weren’t wherever we wanted to be, but they checked a batch of the boxes. You can’t inquire for amended leaders, you can’t inquire for amended guardant thinkers, you can’t inquire for radical that gave their all, had large enactment ethics, were humble, and I’m going to look for a batch of those aforesaid qualities.

“And hopefully with Bill’s immense expertise, the technicalities of coaching strategy and valuation processes, that that’s going to adhd a bully added payment to our hunt and assistance america find the close people.”

5. How does backmost Justin Fields origin in?

Fields, whom Pace drafted astatine No. 11 successful the spring, didn’t person a large rookie play nether Nagy, going 2-8 arsenic a starter portion throwing for 1,870 yards, 7 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

While noting he’s “not a shot evaluator,” McCaskey said helium sees “a dynamic subordinate with a batch of potential, a batch of ability, a batch of heart, and a beardown enactment ethic.”

“We are looking for a wide manager and a caput manager who tin make not conscionable the backmost presumption but the endowment astir him, establishing a beardown defence to assistance the quarterback, to bring the Bears to success,” McCaskey said.

However, McCaskey said Fields volition not beryllium progressive successful the hunt process. He besides was cautious not to importune that the caller GM oregon manager beryllium enamored with Fields, refusing to entertain hypotheticals astir candidates who mightiness privation to spell successful different absorption astatine quarterback.

“We don’t cognize what the candidates person had to accidental due to the fact that we haven’t interviewed immoderate of them yet,” helium said. “We privation to cognize what their program is for that presumption with the Bears.”

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